Darmacare.us

Self-medication does not yet won the French

Posted on October 20th, 2009 in Uncategorized skin disease

Cold, cold sores, headaches, stomach problems … To cure the ills of the most benign, many French spin to the pharmacist without going through the box doctor. More than 300 medicines, available without prescription and not reimbursed, are now counter. The decree establishing the free access to products known as self-medication is released June 30, 2008, paving the way to 269 allopathic specialties, 18 specialty herbal and homeopathic medicines 26.

About 54% of pharmacies in France (there are 24 000) offer drugs for free service, according to information released at the symposium on self-medication, held in early October in the Senate.

The France is one of the OECD countries where drug expenditures are highest. However, a French spends 27 euros for self-medicate, as against 40 euros for an Englishman or an Italian and more than 60 euros for a German, according to Vincent Cottard, president of the French pharmaceutical industry for self-medication responsible (AFIP). The Ministry of Health would be a good eye on the French spend more on self-medication, which would reduce the deficit of health insurance.

“We’re very vigilant on the references, the dosages … In particular, any drugs newly arrived, or to the pediatric population,” observes Fabienne Bartoli, deputy director of the French Agency for Safety of Health Products ( Afssaps). Twenty fact sheets on common diseases (diarrhea, headaches, cold sores …) have been developed by Afssaps.

“The question is whether the pharmacist is a drug dealer or a healthcare professional. We chose the second option,” insisted Isabelle Adenot, Chair of the National Order of Pharmacists. Even echo for Gilles Bonnefond, Deputy Chairman of the Trade Union of pharmacists (USPO): “Beware of free service. There are those who see open access as a mechanism of consumption. There is a choice: “I do not need diagnosis, I go to the pharmacy and ask advice.” This pattern then we seek to emphasize.

“Self-medication is not an end in itself, improve the management of the patient must be strengthened. Therapeutic education is the backbone of an efficient development”, says Professor Alain Baumelou, head of division public health assessment and health products at the Pitie-Salpetriere, and coauthor with Professor Alain Coulomb report on self-medication in France.

What elements are involved in the choice of the pharmacist? “The choice is based on the properties of therapeutic drugs but also in terms of customer demand, facilities for controlling a particular medication and … the financial margin,” said Jean-Francois Bergmann, head of department of internal medicine at the Lariboisière hospital. “The free access would have an opportunity to put before the pharmacy counter drugs for which efficacy was the most important. This was not always the case. In addition, products are old enough free although their effectiveness is less obvious, “says Bergmann.

While the role of pharmacists is valued, “they do not necessarily ask people why they want this or that drug, Doliprane or aspirin,” says Bergmann.

The reserves exist. “The danger in self-medication is underdosing or overdosing of medication, or let it evolve disease undiagnosed …”, tempers Bruxelle Jean, president of the French Society for Study and Treatment of Pain (SFETD). “We did go wrong to the idea that a nonprescription drug is safe. The winner is the laboratory and not the patient,” adds Dr. Savior Boukris, author of these drugs that make us sick ( ed. the Cherche-Midi, 18 euros). “Self-medication raises more questions on the side of patient groups that enthusiasm,” observes Sylvain Fernandez-Curiel, Head of Mission Health Collective Interassociatif Health (CISS). Transparency on prices leave something to be desired.

“Certainly, any medication can have side effects, but more than a year after the free access we have had no reports of risk, no serious adverse events”, reassures Ms. Bartoli.

The medical desertification will also reinforce this phenomenon. To Mr. Bonnefond, “we must restructure the provision of care. We need physicians for palliative care, chemotherapy … more than a cold or diarrhea.